In the late hours of a summer night in 2019, a series of troubling 911 hang-up calls were made from a residence in Lithonia, Georgia. Around midnight on August 1st, a call came through from 27-year-old Aleka Simmons, who ominously told the dispatcher, 'if anything happens to me…'. In the background, a heated argument could be heard, with Simmons questioning, 'Are you threatening me? You're gonna kill me?'. Despite police responding to the call, the house appeared dark and quiet, with no visible signs of a disturbance, leading the officers to depart.
The situation inside the home, however, was tense. The mother of Otis Dennis Walker, Simmons' boyfriend, was awakened by a family member alerting her to the police presence. She sensed the friction between her son and Simmons and offered to give Simmons a ride. Moments later, a gunshot echoed through the house. The mother returned to find Simmons wounded and her son, who had a prior arrest for battery against Simmons, expressing his fear of returning to jail. She and two minors fled to a neighbor's home to call 911 for help.
When officers, including one who had responded to the initial call, arrived back at the scene, they were met with a barrage of gunfire from Walker. One officer, Derek Nunn, was struck four times. Walker fired 19 rounds before escaping into the nearby woods. A SWAT team was activated and, upon entering the home, found Aleka Simmons in an upstairs bedroom with a fatal gunshot wound to the chest.
A week-long manhunt for Otis Walker ensued, culminating in his arrest on August 8, 2019. At the time of his capture, a signed apology to Officer Nunn and the DeKalb County Police Department was found on his person. During his trial, Walker claimed he shot Simmons in self-defense and had fired at the ground towards the officers in an attempt to provoke them into killing him. Evidence, however, contradicted his claims, including the bullets that struck Officer Nunn and a round that hit a neighboring home.
In September 2023, a jury found Otis Dennis Walker guilty of Malice Murder, Felony Murder, Aggravated Assault, and three counts of Aggravated Assault on a Law Enforcement Officer, among other charges. He was subsequently sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, plus an additional 65 years to be served consecutively.
